In Moderation

Here are two lists of one-handed weapons that, when sheathed, appear on the back of World of Warcraft characters. "Unavailable" weapons cannot be acquired anymore but were included anyways since some players might still have them.

Theme/Role
Coming up with an original fourth spec theme for Hunters, both in theme and role, was fairly difficult. I knew I wanted a Tanking spec, but I couldn't get around this one basic question: How do you Tank with a pet without being a Beast Master? You cannot ignore the pet - Hunters are the pet class, if anybody. You also cannot copy an existing spec - Beast Master+...no. Super Beast Master Alpha...no. Stop it.

Since it exists almost solely for Death Knights, Paladins, and Warriors (only Plate comes in a Tanking flavor), turning other classes into Tanks means a heavy dependence on gimmicks, much like Bear Druids. For those who don't know, Bear Druids currently prefer Agility/Mastery gear in every slot. Some might get more benefit from Tanking off pieces (Rings, Trinkets, etc.) but it's only for specific (and seemingly temporary) situations.

My current list of fourth spec ideas would leave every Leather, Mail, and Plate class with a Tanking spec. At what point would Blizzard have to add Tanking Leather/Mail? Or, at what point would Blizzard have to remove Tanking Plate? Not being a fan of more itemization, the second question is the one I've been dwelling over most. Considering that Spirit gear for Healers is becoming less relevant as the Cataclysm expansion advances, I'm left scratching my head wondering why three classes have the sole expectation of carrying an entire second set of gear (I'm not touching PVP armor only because everybody is expected to use Resilience gear).

Theme
Deciding on the theme for a Druid fourth spec came pretty early. From the get go, creating a Druid of the Fang specialization was the most obvious choice, as there's existing lore and a unique style. The theme needed to be more broad than simply "Serpent" however. Opening it up to Druids familiar with the Emerald Dream, with a Druid of the Fang tie-in, seems possible considering the group's own experience with the Dream and the Nightmare.

A Druid of the Fang spec would likely rely heavily on poison spells, which didn't seem right for a "Dream" spec. I spent a considerable amount of time thinking up non-poison spells to broaden the scope. It eventually occurred to me that the very rulers of the Emerald Dream - the Green Dragonflight - themselves rely heavily on poison abilities. Hey, poison is natural, right?

It's worth mentioning that some uncorrupt Green Dragonflight members make use of the Nightmare in-game, another possible aspect for Dream Druids.

One concern with a Druid of the Fang theme is their use of lightning spells, which is part of the Shaman theme. Would this be too much homogenization? Consider that frost, fire, and holy are the focus of more than one spec.

Theme
Coming up with original themes was the difficult part of Death Knight fourth specs. They already specialize in their three main themes: Blood, Frost, Unholy. Each of those specs are also tied to their runes, and adding a fourth set of runes just didn't seem right. This is when I realized a fourth rune already technically exists: Death Runes. But...Death Death Knights? It needed some work.

Eventually becoming a skeleton came to mind, which lead to the defining theme for this idea. Which was followed by Bone Storm. Which was then followed by Lagmancers. The hard part quickly became the easy part.

An idea that is frequently kicked around (although rarely taken seriously) for advancing characters in WoW is adding a fourth specialization. There are certainly problems with adding a fourth spec to WoW, but there are also benefits. There are also problems and benefits to pretty much everything Blizzard could do, including changing existing specs and even adding an 11th class.

I'm only going to be exploring the positives and negatives of fourth specs with this series of posts, as I'm more interested in generating and vetting ideas than debating why one path is superior to another. Perhaps another time.